04.20.07

You can read these stories, and the updates, on the BLOG. I try to update every couple of days so keep checking!!

KULA PARKS

Kula started physical therapy yesterday. The hope is that we can build back up his muscles so that he can use the bad leg at least partially. We may later need to have the bones in the foot fused so that he puts the pad on the ground. Right now, because of neurological damage, he often walks with the top of his foot dragging the ground. It is possible that this physical therapy will help.

Here are a few pictures from his day yesterday…

What a sweet kissy face boy Kula is.

One exercise to build up the muscles in his back leg is to make him walk over small hurdles.

Ahhh, finally, after 30 minutes of the water walking, I can rest and go home!!

Thankfully, the physical therapy is not as expensive as orthopedic surgery, but it does cost. The cost is $350 for five hour-long sessions which include the water tank, hurdles, etc. Once he gets done with these five sessions, we will re-evaluate his future needs.

If you can donate for his fund, please donate HERE via paypal or go HERE to send a check(specify Kula Parks)!!!

EASTER LILY HARRIS

This one is soooo sad. We went to pick up a little shih tzu at the shelter last week (turned out to be a Maltese so we turned him over to Maltese rescue), and they asked us if we wanted this matted, broken girl. They thought she had been hit by a car and of course no one would adopt her from the shelter.

Well, we thought she was a mess when we picked her up, but it’s even worse than we thought.

She has not been hit by a car – just has a horrible very old back injury. She can barely walk but thankfully, is not in pain.

Here you can see her crooked back. And how totally wasted away her back end is. Almost no muscle at all in her back legs.

And how her back legs don’t “work right.”

Here, she’s cleaned up and resting.

She LOVES these little beds.

She also has a horrendous heart murmur – grade V – and is on meds for congestive heart failure. We don’t think she has long, but will give her a place to stay as long as she wants to stay around.

Consequently, we aren’t going to ask for a monthly sponsorship for this beauty. Just for help with vet bills as she incurs them.

To date, she has $365 in vet bills. If you can donate for her fund, please donate HERE via paypal or go HERE to send a check(specify Easter Lily Harris)!!!

AN ADMINISTRATIVE EDITORIAL

You know, someone asked me yesterday why it cost so much for us to treat these dogs. I really appreciate people asking me the questions that are in their minds. This one, in particular, was interesting, so I want to address it here.

First, most of the dogs we ask for help with are “last call” dogs. Easter Lily, Kula, etc. These dogs are typically in really rough shape. As you recall, one that we took in just a few weeks ago, Otto Harris, died unexpectedly. That was tough.

When we get these dogs in from shelters, there are several things that we have to do and we lump it all together into their medical fund…

First, we have to run minimal diagnostic tests – not all rescues do that – we do. We want to know whether this new dog is having kidney or liver trouble and certainly want to know if it has heartworms, immediately. These diagnostic tests often run $75-$150 depending on the level of tests needed. We also remove and biopsy any lump, bump, tumor,etc that our vet thinks looks suspicious. Surgery to remove a visible tumor can run $20-$100 again depending on where it is. The histopath runs around $75. Then, of course, if the dog has heartworms, we start treating it. The cost to treat one of our dogs has doubled this past year because we adopted the American Heartworm Society’s recommended “slow” treatment for our small dogs. Once one of our vets showed me a small dog heart with just a few worms clogging the pulmonary artery, she absolutely convinced me that we were putting our dogs at risk when rushing heartworm treatment. So the cost of heartworm treatment went from between $125-$200 to almost $400. This, of course, includes all the followup testing.

Additionally, when we take in shelter dogs, we typically isolate them at the vet for 7-14 days. This, too, we have to pay for but need to do it to not only protect our foster homes’ dogs, but also to reduce the potential for cross-contamination.

And, to top it off, these little poots come with ear infections, eye infections($20 a month), dry eye ($30 a month), and frankly it just adds up. We do a lot of additional fundraising to cover some of the little things, and typically only need your help when there is something fairly large come up.

And, remember that all of the members are volunteers. Many actually donate large sums themselves. In 2005, less than 1% of what we took in was spent on administrative expenses. We did pay our accountant $400, our attorney $500 and another $500 was for dog show event fee and other event fees, supplies for printing brochures, and fees for pulling dogs out of some of the shelters.

But if you EVER have a question about any specific dog, please just let us know.

04.14.07

Welcome to the April 14, 2007 Saturday night edition of the Lone Star News!

If you want, please read the news ONLINE at the blog site. And, keep checking back ONLINE to see daily updates!

We have some great news to share tonight. About Charo Worth, Kula Parks and a couple of happy adoption stories from this week.

And, PLEASE do not forget to SIGN UP TO OUR NEW NEWSLETTER SITE. Microsoft will discontinue this newsletter service on June 1, so to continue to stay connected to Lone Star, please SIGN UP TO THE NEW SITE. We can only add a few people each day so hope to get everyone transferred over asap.

Ok, on with the news…

CHARO WORTH GOES HOME!!!

Karen picked up Charo late this afternoon. Here she is with a vet tech that took EXCELLENT care of her. And, wonder of all wonders, the vet clinic stood by their estimate so we need no more funding for her right now. Here’s the report…

Charo is home and doing good. She’ll continue on her meds and I’ll do cappage treatments (thumping her sides to get her to cough). She’ll go back in a week for a checkup. They took really good care of her. Thanks to everyone for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers.

KULA PARKS IS IMPROVING!

Yes, you heard it right, the little cruelty confiscation lhasa boy is improving with physical therapy. His foster mom has his bad leg in a splint now and he is undergoing hydrotherapy to improve the muscle and control in his leg. The physical therapist was amazed at the improvement in one short week. Go Kula. More in a few days.

ELMO OAKS AND TOOTIE COLLINS(Cherry eye surgery) TAKE A LONG TRIP TO MIDLAND

As you probably know, we adopt to people all over the US. We have taken dogs to places from New Jersey to Florida to California. The most difficult part of adopting out of state is actually getting the dog there. In the case of Tootie Collins (for whom you all donated to fix a cherry eye) and Elmo Oaks, these two lucky fluffs hitched a ride with the good friend of one of our foster moms, Lynda.

Here is Lynda’s account of the trip Tootie and Elmo made to Midland, TX from Dallas….

My good friend Nora agreed to meet the Morgan’s at a restaurant when she got into Midland. To her surprise, all the patrons, the waitress and maybe even the cook came out to greet the pups Wanda and Jim were so excitedly waiting for at 9:00 pm. Elmo immediately jumped in Wanda’s arms and cleaned her face, while Tootie was much more lady-like. All in all, it was a wonderful home-coming for these two darling pups.

Once the pups got to their new home, we received this happy note….

Nora has probably told you that the transport went without a hitch. Tootie and Elmo are just perfect! They are so cute and sweet and such good dogs. We just got home and they have been in every corner of the house. We didn’t have a single accident unless you count that Elmo felt called upon to mark one of the displays at PetSmart! We brought home a trunk full of stuff for them. It’s going to be a challenge to get them settled down they’re so excited, but they settled right down last night. I was afraid Tootie might be sick she was so lethargic, but she was fine this morning, energetic and active all day. She already climbs into my lap and goes to sleep. They will light up our lives. I’ll send pictures.

Thanks again, for everything you did and all the things you sent to get us through the first day. All of you at Lone Star have been just wonderful. I wasn’t at all optimistic about this process when I started, so I’ve become a believer!

ANOTHER happy adoption!! Photos coming soon.

DAWSON DAVIS(BLADDER STONE SURGERY) MOVES TO TUCSON, ARIZONA

Yes, just weeks after almost emergency surgery for bladderstones, his forever mom saw his beautiful charcoal gray face and decided THAT was the one she wanted. So, Friday morning, stellar volunteer Gary boarded a plane for Arizona with Dawson in tow.

He’ll spend the weekend with one of our volunteers in Phoenix and then move to Tucson on Tuesday.

Yeah! Go Dawson!!

And, Dawson send you all big, sloppy kisses – if not for you, he may not be alive to be traveling to Arizona.

SPECIAL NOTES

We are starting up the CALENDAR CONTEST again!! Finally, we’ve figured out how to FIX the problem we had last year. Since we put the email address on the website, some email harvesters took it and has been using it to send spam. Consequently, our mail box was overloading day after day. So, we’ve set up a different website and the email address is harder for the automated harvesters to spot, so hopefully it will work. So, enter your baby ASAP. Go HERE to enter. And see what we did with the calendar last here HERE. Since we’re well into the fourth month of 2007, I’ve cut the price from $25.99 to $19.99. These calendars are absolutely BEAUTIFUL if I do say so. They are printed on exceptional paper and the portraits are stunning. To enter your fluff, email the picture along with the name and birthdate to me at TERESA@digitaldogart.com.

Some of our most consistent supporters have commercial businesses. Please support them if you are interested in the type of products they have available. I will try to feature one or two each newsletter. This time, please check out NATTY PRODUCTS – if you’re into having a SPA DAY at home, this is the place to go. Another great site, Campbell’s Pet Beds and Steps, has some wonderful, sturdy pet ramps, steps and beds. These people routinely donate articles for the dog show, auctions and raffles. You cannot find a better-constructed ramp.